Children's swing sets, or gym sets, generally include several items of play equipment which are individually suspended from a common, horizontal beam member. The beam member may be supported above the ground by a plurality of leg members. A glide swing that is adapted to support two passengers on horizontally spaced seats is one item that is commonly included in a swing set. Another item that is frequently employed with play gyms and which is employed to support two passengers on horizontally spaced seats is commonly called a lawn swing. The seats of either item, and particularly the glide swing are fastened to a pair of cross bars that are themselves pivotally supported from a pair of parallel, vertically disposed, hanger bars. A hanger bracket, secured to the horizontal beam member, has spaced hinge points from which the hanger bars are pivotally supported. The hanger bracket, hanger bars and cross bars form a pantograph which maintains the seats parallel with the ground, even while the hanger bars are swinging.
The pivot points by which the hanger bars are suspended from the hanger bracket can be reached by a child standing on either of the seats. Thus, it is quite easy for a foreign body such as a stick, or the fingers of a hand, to be inserted between the relatively movable members joined at the pivot points. In fact, there have been injuries to children in just that manner. Prior known protective devices have been overly expensive, have interfered with the swinging action, or are of overly large size, thereby detracting from the appearance of the gym set. The smaller, less expensive devices that have heretofore been proposed are rigidly secured to the horizontal bar and must be provided with a large slot, or vertical opening, to accommodate the full swing angle of the hanger bars.
One relatively well known prior art device provides a pair of horizontally spaced, cup-like plates which are fixedly positioned with respect to the horizontal beam member. The plates are spaced to provide a cavity within which to contain the hanger bracket and the pivotal connection of the hanger bars to the hanger bracket. The opposed plates provide an access aperture that extends along a significant extent of the circumference to accommodate at least the angular sweep of the hanger bars as they swing to and fro. Thus, the access aperture presents a space of sufficient magnitude that an object, including fingers, can be inadvertently inserted between the support bars and the access aperture. While this arrangement provides better protection than systems without covers, it does leave considerable room for improvement.